What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?

What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?

Browning’s gun shop, located in Arnold, Mo., houses some 100 employees, working mostly in the warehouse, shipping product throughout North America. Housed there, too, are the Browning gunsmiths. Grumpy, old curmudgeons working on Browning guns, cursing, drinking obscene amounts of strong, black coffee and wishing people would leave them alone.

Well, not exactly … Mary Farley is one of the gunsmiths. Standing 5 feet 4 inches, Mary Farley is a little bundle of dynamite. Farley, originally from Cookeville, Tenn., was like most other girls growing up in rural America — playing softball, playing in the band, even serving on the homecoming court in high school.

“Daddy introduced me to the outdoors — hunting and fishing when I was a little girl,” explained Farley. She still enjoys hunting and fishing, particularly bow hunting for deer.

While serving a four-year stint in the United States Marine Corps, she attended Small Arms Technician training at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland and subsequently reported for duty at Quantico, Va. Her job was a small arms technician. Mary enjoyed the work and camaraderie, so staying in the industry was a no-brainer for her.

So how did a nice girl like this end up at Browning?

Farley sent her resume to several firms. Browning was the first to respond. She was hired at Browning as a gunsmith in March 2003. The transition was not as smooth as she had hoped, but Farley imposed goals for herself and was determined to meet them. “I wanted to work on the Superposed (John Browning’s original over and under, first introduced in 1931 and still serviced by Browning) and start engraving within a year,” Farley told me in a recent interview. In February, 2004, Mary hit her goals and now is one of Browning’s engravers as well as a fine gunsmith.

How do the grumpy old men of Browning’s gun shop feel about a woman being in there with them? Kent Sutton, a 42- year veteran of Browning, is as set in his ways as anyone, but had this to say about Farley, “Mary is hardworking, dedicated and extremely talented. When she first got here, I didn’t know what to think. I was anxious to see how and if she was going to be accepted and if she would accept us, meaning an all-male gun shop.” Sutton was given the task of training Farley. “She didn’t know anything about stock fitting, checkering or engraving when she first got here, through hard work both here on the job and on her own time, she has excelled. When it comes to a mechanical repair, she has no fear. She has worked out very well. I had my doubts because she is a girl, but she has overcome all obstacles and adversities. She doesn’t ask for or expect special treatment and hasn’t let anyone down,” concluded Sutton.

Farley loves her job as a gunsmith. However, she calls engraving her passion. The goals she is currently working on is to see her engraving published in a national publication, to have clients seek out her work and engrave as well as Ron Smith – her idol, who is considered by many as one of the top engravers in the world.

She would also like to pay homage to those who so selflessly taught her – by teaching upcoming, aspiring engravers and gunsmiths – not just women, but anyone interested in learning.

When asked what she feels she can do for the profession, she does not hesitate: “I want to help women get their foot in the door, not just gunsmithing, but checkering and engraving. I want to change people’s minds of hunting and firearms of being a man’s profession.”

I’ve been known to lay down a wager, but I don’t think, after meeting Mary Farley, I would bet against her or find many takers that would bet she will not continue to be successful at her vocation. Her exuberance and can-do attitude shows in everything she does, and does well.

Mary Farley is available for engraving work and would be happy to send photos of some of her work. Contact her at mbgundoc79@msn.com.

Steve Felgenhauer is an outdoor writer and gunsmith. His credits include Missouri Game & Fish, Trophy Whitetail World magazine, the Bass Pro Shops OutdoorSite Library, Family Fish & Game, Missouri Deer Hunter, River Hills Traveler and other publications.